Calif. Jails Deal With Staph Outbreak

More than 1,000 inmates housed in county jails were infected with drug-resistant Staphylococcus bacterial infections last year. Fifty-seven required hospitalization.

Federal health officials believe the outbreak of the Staphylococcus aureus, commonly called staph, is the largest of its kind in any of the nation's correctional systems. By comparison, a similar outbreak in Mississippi prisons in 1999-2000 infected 59 inmates.

Staphylococcus can cause the skin to boil and forms deep abscesses. An infection can be fatal if it spreads to the blood and antibiotics fail, or if it goes untreated.

The infections were often misdiagnosed as spider bites before doctors began seeing similar symptons among inmates.

"The problem at the jail is not under control yet," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's public health director. More than 100 infections have been reported this month alone.

Staph infections are believed to be spread by skin-to-skin contact or shared personal items in the county's jails, officials said Thursday.